A
thousand years of nation building successfully delineated groups
based on culture, religion, geography, and other attributes to create
the countries with which we are so familiar. While some Western European
nations would continue power struggles and princely battles and civil
wars, Hungary, founded in 896, was a peaceful multi-ethnic state for over
1100 years and her borders were virtually unchanged.... Until 1920.

"The greatest catastrophe to have befallen Hungary since the battle of Mohacs in 1526," the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, was extremely harsh on Hungary and unjustifiably one-sided. The resulting "treaty" cost Hungary an unprecedented 2/3 of her territory, and 1/2 of her total population or 1/3 of her ethnic-Hungarian population. Add to this the loss of all her seaports, up to 90% of her vast natural resources, industry, railways, and other infrastructure. Millions of Hungarians saw borders arbitrarily redrawn around them, without plebiscites, ignoring President Wilson's lofty goal of national self-determination. The absurd treaty ignored a millenia of nation building and age-old cultural affiliations, created arbitrary borders and new countries, and created millions of new minorities who today struggle for survival of the ethnic identity. Western powers, primarily Britain and France, refused to re-visit the disaster they created at Versailles and led us into another great war. Two of the three newly created countries carved out of Hungarian territory no longer exist. The "Slovakia" (formerly Upper Hungary) part of Czechoslovakia split with the Czech Republic while "Yugoslavia" suffered from tragic civil war and the ravages of ethnic cleansing.

"Just get over it"
Many in Europe, especially those that caused this mess, prefer the status quo and are very uncomfortable with the treaty's implications today and refuse to tackle some very real current issues. They are quick to dismiss Trianon and recommend to those that call attention to its lingering affects to "get over it." In Communist Hungary, Trianon and the issue of mistreatment of Hungarians across the borders in the perfect "Socialist brotherhood of nations" was taboo. Decades of ignoring these issues has created a pressure cooker and feeds radicalism. They must be dealt with. Since 1989 and the fall of Communism, more attention has been paid to the Hungarian diaspora. Sadly, the affects of this dictat are felt strongly today throughout the region. Hungarian populations continue to decline significantly after forced removals such as the Benes Decrees and other pograms. Continued pressure and discriminative policies such as the 2009 Slovak Language Law, the Slovak Citizenship Act, which are being used to stop the use of Hungarian language and to strip Hungarians of their citizenship and status in Slovakia are today's reality. Violence and vandalism in Transcarpathia (Ukraine), and gerrymandering and other discriminatory practices in Romania and Serbia directed at ethnic Hungarian communities teach us that Trianon's effects are still felt strongly today. The American Hungarian Federation has been a long advocate of human and minority rights for all peoples of the Carpathian Basin. We call on all those who share a love for democracy and human rights to help these communities not just survive, but determine their own destinies and flourish in a Europe free from fear and discrimination.

The United States never ratified this treaty. At the time President Wilson said: “The proposal to dismember
Hungary is absurd” and later Sir Winston Churchill said: “Ancient
poets and theologians could not imagine such suffering, which Trianon
brought to the innocent.” Others warned that a weakened, dismembered Hungary would lead to a weak, fragmented Central Europe unable to resist Soviet expansionism. We are sad to report that they were
all right.

AHF Statements and Trianon Analyses

6/4/2014 - 94th Anniversary of the Treaty of Trianon: AHF issues statement highlighting how shortsighted "peacemakers'" mistakes led to millions of people being cut off from their motherland, caused untold suffering, assured the rise of Hitler, the expansion of Bolshevism, and set the stage for unneccesary conflict still with us today:

President Wilson: “Bohemia will be part of Czechoslovakia.”

Ambassador Bullitt: “But Mr. President, there are three million Germans in Bohemia.”

6/4/2011 - On the 91st Anniversary of the Treaty of Trianon, AHF remembers the ill-advised treaty and publishes essay by Sir Bryan Cartledge who calls the treaty "the greatest catastrophe to have befallen Hungary since the battle of Mohacs in 1526." Over the course of its more than 100-year history, the American Hungarian Federation has commemorated the Treaty of Trianon, highlighting the gross injustices wrought by that treaty (better described as a diktat) and the entire Versailles so-called peacemaking. The grossly unfair treaty continues to plaque the region.
[read more]

6/3/2010 - The 90th Anniversary of Hungary's Dismemberment: Hungary declares "National Day of Unity," AHF issues statement: "Trianon is not only tragic history, it is a lingering tragedy which continues to affect the Hungarian minorities and historical communities living in the states neighboring Hungary even today." Includes links to article by Amb. Geza Jeszenszky (Gyásznapok után - az elkeseredés ellen) and Letter to the Editor by Geza Cseri. [read more]

6/4/2009 - The 89th Anniversary of Hungary's Dismemberment... AHF Remembers Trianon. The statement reads, "Trianon is not a relic of the past to be ignored. As several recent publications astutely suggest, Trianon, as part of a blunder of a massive scale, had far-reaching consequences that are still with us today and continue to affect both the lives of the Hungarian historical communities found in states neighboring Hungary and the region."
[read more]

6/4/2008 - The 88th Anniversary of Trianon. AHF issues Statement entitled, "Overdue Autonomy for Minority Hungarians!
Time to Bury Trianon and Resurrect Democracy." The European order imposed after World War I and then re-imposed following the Second World War collapsed almost within months at the end of the Cold War. One ethnic group after another throughout the region seized the opportunity to realize their own objectives to exercise external self-determination, even as some of them denied internal self-determination to their Hungarian co-nationals. For example, after Slovakia broke away from Prague’s perceived dominance in the peaceful divorce of 1992, it wasted little time to gerrymander the country’s historic administrative division in 1996 so as to eliminate most of the districts which had a Hungarian majority population. [read more]

6/4/2007
- "Trianon: Tragedy, Dissolution, and Remedy."
Frank Koszorus, Jr. and the AHF International Relations Committee release
essay on treaty's 87th anniversary. "...Ostensibly in the
name of national self-determination, the Treaty dismembered the thousand-year-old
Kingdom of Hungary, a self-contained, geographically and economically
coherent and durable formation in the Carpathian Basin and boasting the
longest lasting historical borders in Europe. It was imposed on Hungary
without any negotiation by vengeful leaders who were ignorant or ignored
the region’s history, and mercilessly tore that country apart. By
drawing artificial borders in gross violation of the ethnic principle,
it also transferred overthree million indigenous ethnic Hungarians and
over 70% of the country's territory to foreign rule. Following the war
to make the "world safe for democracy," the Treaty even denied
the affected populations the right to choose under whose sovereignty they
would live. Only the city of Sopron in western Hungary was allowed a plebiscite
to decide its future, and it opted by a large margin to remain in Hungary.
Although the peacemakers included provisions for the protection of minorities
in various international instruments they insisted the successor states
sign, the latter generally ignored their promises and the individual and
minority rights of ethnic Hungarians were violated.

The
essay includes selected statements relating to some of these issues that
shed light on the context, attitudes and practices that affected Hungarians
eighty-seven years ago and which still impact and to some extent poison
the region, as evidenced by the Successor States’ refusal to grant
their Hungarian historical communities the right to autonomy. The last
excerpt is another solution for a tragedy that affected the entire region."
[read full text]
or [download]

6/7/2006
- "Trianon Binds No One Except Hungarians," AHF Issues
Statement on the 86th Anniversary of the Trianon
Tragedy.Hungarian
American communities join in protest. AHF's Assoc. President Frank Koszorus,
Jr., writes, "Two of the new states cobbled together by the victorious
Entente “peacemakers” at Versailles ceased to exist years
ago, and even part (Moldova) of the third successor state succeeded to
gain its independence it never had before. Ironically, the winds of change
that swept through the region and rearranged the old Cordon Stalinaire
after 1989, left untouched the very people who have suffered the most
under a punitive treaty – the thousand plus year old indigenous
Hungarian communities living under the rule of states that are mostly
different from those stipulated at Trianon 86 years ago...Even as Montenegro
declares its independence and Kosovo’s status remains on the front
burner, Budapest appears content to sit on the sidelines and conspicuously
refrains from espousing the democratically expressed aspirations of autochthonous
Hungarian minorities for autonomy in Vojvodina, Transylvania, Slovakia
and Karpatalja (Ruthenia)." [read full text]
or [download]

6/7/2005
- Trianon turns 85! Demonstrations in NY, Toronto and elsewhere... Hungarian organizations from New York and Toronto demonstrated to call
attention to the unjust Treaty of Trianon in which Hungary lost 2/3 of
her territory, half her Hungarian-speaking population and vast natural
resources and infrastructure. The
New York Polgari Kor demonstrated in front of the U.N. building on June
5, 2005. [read more] The demonstrators drew the world’s attention
to the "increasing injustices, atrocities, and physical abuse from
which our fellow Hungarians, who were forced to remain outside of the
new Hungarian borders, have been suffering as a result of the Treaty."
See more pictures on Gimagine.com and read about the NY
Polgari Kor.

For the past 85 years AHF was instrumental in organizing the American
Hungarian Community in efforts to influence US policy in order to illuminate
the unjust dismemberment of Hungary at Trianon and seek re-unification. Today, AHF is closely monitoring the violence
and injustices in Rumania, Vojvodina (Serbia), Slovakia, Transcarpathian Ukraine,
and elsewhere.

2/5/2005
- Banned Trianon Documentary makes it's
way to the Internet for download and viewing! Those interested in viewing Gabor Koltay's controversial film that was banned by
the Rumanian AND the Hungarian governments, can now view the film on the
Web. Directed by the renowned Gábor Koltay and with internationally
respected historians such as Nemeskürti and Raffai, the film has
and will continue to spark critical debate. AHF encourages open debate
on Trianon
and encourages all to review the film - unfortunately this site offers
the film in Hungarian only. [Go
to film]NOTE: The site has the film's 13
parts out of 14. To view, just LEFT click on any portion. Once there,
you can view it from your Browser or save it. To save that portion, RIGHT
click the small yellow symbol (100/k) and "Save target as" to
your hard drive.

Count Apponyi pleading to the Supreme Council of the Paris Peace Conference:

"In the name of the great principle so happily phrased by President Wilson, namely that no group of people, no population, may be transferred from one State to another without being consulted,- as though they were a herd of cattle with no will of their own,- in the name of this great principle, an axiom of good sense and public morals, we request, we demand a plebiscite on those parts of Hungary that are now on the point of being severed from us. I declare we are willing to bow to the decision of a plebiscite whatever it should be. Of course, we demand it should be held in conditions ensuring the freedom of the vote."
[more on Count Apponyi]

The United States has never ratified this treaty. At the time President
Wilson said: “The proposal to dismember Hungary is absurd”
and later Sir Winston Churchill said: “Ancient poets and theologians
could not imagine such suffering, which Trianon bought to the innocent.” Others warned that a weakened, dismembered Hungary would lead to a weak, fragmented Central Europe unable to resist Soviet expansionism.
We are sad to report they were right.

The Treaty of Trianon in 1920... in the aftermath of WWI, was extremely harsh on Hungary
and unjustifiably one-sided. The resulting "treaty" lost Hungary
an unprecedented 2/3 of her territory, and 1/2 of her total population
or 1/3 of her Hungarian-speaking population. Add to this the loss of over 90% of her vast natural resources, industry, railways, and other infrastructure.
This was done to a nation whose borders were established
over a thousand years earlier (896 A.D.) and one who, as the Pope called the "Saviors
of Christianity," lost millions of lives defending the rest of Europe
from numerous invasions from the likes of the Mongolian Tatars and the
Ottoman Turks.

Hungary,
along with Germany and Austria, experienced rapid economic expansion during
the latter part of the 19th century and into the 20th. This challenge
alarmed France, Britain and Russia. Each needed a way to stave off Austrian-German-Hungarian
economic competition. With the advent of WWI, France and Britain had their chance and
began fostering anti-Hungarian sentiment among non-Magyar speaking Hungarian
nationals. It is important to note that for over a thousand years, Hungary
never experienced ethnic civil war. France, eager to weaken Hungary, offered
to reward those nations and groups that assisted them in the war with
large pieces of territory. The "Little Entente" of Rumania (who
switched sides in the last minute), Czechoslovakia, and Serbia took that
opportunity and got very lucky with huge swaths of territory. But they also inherited millions of ethnic Hungarians. Depsite promises otherwise, ethnic cleansing would soon commence.

The French, despite American protests and calls for
plebiscites, sent their troops to Northern Hungary in violation of the
cease fire, and then pushed through the Treaty
of Versailles (Trianon). Although Rumania, herself created only in
1862, switched to the French side almost at the very end of the war, she
gained all of Transylvania and majority of the Banat, but claimed the
river Tisza. The Czechs were awarded all of Northern Hungary (now Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine),
despite almost equal numbers of Hungarians and Slovaks in the region, to create Czechoslovakia. The Serbs got parts of Southern
Hungary (Vojvodina), Slavonia, and Croatia
(confederated with Hungary for 700 years) to create the unlikely "Yugoslavia,"
which, like Czechoslovakia, no longer exists. Perhaps most
amazingly, the Austrians who were responsible for getting Hungary into
the war in the first place, got Western Hungary (Burgenland).

The dictators in these successor states began to foster nationalism and
teach a less-than-accurate history to help bring legitimacy to their regimes.
These claims are based on some seriously unfortunate state propaganda-cum-history
about an ancient Roman
province called Dacia. In Rumania, this revised history, accelerated
by Ceaucescu, has become the accepted state historical doctrine even today,
making the honest debate and a process of reconciliation much more difficult. In the newly
formed Czechslovakia, Eduard Benes and his infamous "Benes
Decrees" forcibly expelled tens of thousands of Hungarians and
confiscated personal and church properties. See the additional
steps the Slovak Government has taken against the Hungarian minority such as repressive "Slovak Language Law" and "Citizenship Act" which has no place in a 21st Europe.
AHF's efforts to guarantee anew the rights of the Hungarian "minorities"
continue.

Though the United States recommended a slightly more liberal approach
in regards to Hungary, it did not prevail. The "self-determination
of the nationalities" posited by President Woodrow Wilson resulted
in only one plebiscite in Sopron, in Western Hungary. The vote was overwhelmingly
pro-Hungarian and Sopron remained within the new borders. Oddly enough,
although Austria was also a loser in the war, she also received a part
of Hungary, and Sopron became a border city.

The dismemberment and instability brought economic collapse and governmental
crisis. The Rumanians, also in defiance of the armistice agreement with
their new-found French allies, took advantage of the turmoil in Hungary
and moved troops into the defenseless nation and occupied Budapest and
beyond. To this day, the Greater Rumania Party and other in Rumania still
claim territory that includes the river Tisza and even Budapest. A mini-communist
takeover, a republican government, finally gave way to Royalist Admiral
Miklos Horthy who took over as "Regent" of Hungary and brought
some stability back to the country. The new government got to work on
trying to revise the unjust treaty.

Sadly, the US with its growing isolationist
stance, pulled out of the League of Nations and Western Europe wanted
no part in re-opening the case. France was focused on making sure Germany
was punished. The Hungarians got a sympathetic ear from only Italy and
Germany. This tragic alliance initially gained Hungary part of her northern
territory from Czechoslovakia and Northern Transylvania from Rumania.
But this alliance would only to plunge her into another disaster and occupations
by first Nazis and later Soviet communists. Her land was again taken.
One part of northern Hungary was then transferred from Czechoslovakia
and became part of the Soviet Union and is today part of Ukraine.

The
maps here not only show graphically the extent to which the Treaty of
Trianon dismembered Hungary, it shows how much Hungarian-majority areas
were arbitrarily "reassigned." Hungarians today are the one
of the largest minorities in Europe and face oppression and violence.
Numbering in the millions, Hungarian minorities are second only to the
Russians who became "minorities" with the dissolution of the
Soviet Union. Hungarians live under harsh persecution in the new states
created by the treaty. The Helsinki Watch Committee called Romanian efforts
to "purify" Transylvania as "Cultural Genocide."

In Upper Hungary (awarded to Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia): 1,687,977 Slovaks and 1,233,454 others (mostly Hungarians - 886,044, Germans, Ruthenians and Roma) [according to the 1921 census, however, there were 1,941,942 Slovaks and 1,058,928 others]

In Carpathian Ruthenia (Transcarpathia - awarded to Czechoslovakia after WWI, returned to Hungary in WWII, and then annexed by Stalin to the Soviet Union and Ukraine in 1945): 330,010 Ruthenians and 275,932 others (mostly Hungarians, Germans, Romanians, and Slovaks)

6/20/2014 - With the conflict in Ukraine and ethnic tensions once again on the rise, AHF republishes prophetic 1996 essay from the Fletcher Forum of World Affairs: "Group Rights Defuse Tensions." "Moreover, the strong U.S. interest in a stable and peaceful Europe is contingent upon the resolution of minority disputes and the elimination of tensions that arise from such disputes. When European minority issues were ignored or improperly addressed in this century, the United States was called upon to intervene in two world wars." [read more]

Intolerance in Slovakia: The Oppressive, Draconian "Language Law"
In 2005 and amended in 2009, Slovakia Criminalized the use of Hungarian: Under the act, the use of the minority language in official communication would be punishable in towns and villages where the ethnic community makes up less than 20 percent of the total population. The amendment requires that all documentation of minority schools should be duplicated in the state language. The law stipulates that the names of streets and buildings anywhere in Slovakia must be stated in the Slovak language [despite 1100-year-old tradition] and it also introduces sanctions of up to €5,000 ($7,000+) on those who break rules promoting the use of Slovak in public and for municipalities and public offices for not using the Slovak language "properly." [read more]

6/17/2014 - AHF Book Review: "Transylvania Today: Diversity at Risk," edited by Csaba Zoltani. Written by noted experts, describes the issues faced by minorities in Transylvania in their effort to retain their identity in an adverse environment. Minorities, according to the official census, constitute nearly one-quarter of the population of Romania. Contributors include Amb. Geza Jeszenszky, Prof. Andrew Ludanyi, Tilhamer Czika, Viktor Segesvary, and Andreas Bereznay. [read more]

5/30/2014 - AHF organizes meeting with the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the United States Congress, discusses situation of the Hungarian minority in Romania including the revocation of the Knight's Order of the Star of Romania from Bishop Laszlo Tokes. [read more]

The Hungarian Millecentenarium Monument in Verecke (Veretsky / Transcarpathia) has been repeatedly vandalized.

3/27/2014 - Paprika Politik publishes article by AHF President entitled, "Strengthen Ukraine by Strengthening Minority Rights:" As Russia completes the annexation of Crimea, creating a fait accompli probably impossible to reverse, the situation in Ukraine proper remains fraught with uncertainty. For the Hungarian minority in Ukraine the situation is especially precarious, particularly in light of a proposed ban on minority languages currently being pushed by nationalists in the Ukrainian parliament. [read more]

Slovakia stripping citizenship of ethnic Hungarian minorities.

12/14/2011 - UPDATE: The Case of Ilonka Tamas. The latest outrage from Slovakia: a 99-year-old teacherloses her citizenship. Ilonka Tamás was born in 1912 when Rimaszombat was part of Hungary. She brought up generations of children and received the “Komenský” medal and the Gold Medal of the Slovak Republic for her pedagogical achievements. She merely wanted to regain her Hungarian citizenship but is now a "person without a registered address." AHF submits follow up letter to the U.S. Helsinki Commission. [read more]

9/29/2011 -Federation again raises minority rights. In a letter to Knut Vollebaek, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, the Federation again raises anti-Hungarian measures in Slovakia and Serbia and requests the High Commissioner's clarification of reports in the electronic media asserting that he had labeled Hungary's support for Slovakia's Hungarian minority "malicious and foolish." [read more]

A
memorandum that was submitted to Robert A. Bradtke, Deputy Assistant
Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, and Heather A. Conley,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs during
a roundtable discussion on "NATO Enlargement and the Current State
of the Trans-Atlantic Alliance." This submission follows several
other intiatives, including submissions to Lord Roberston, Secretary
General of NATO. [download]

An Essay on the foundations of Rumanian Identity, Nationalism and
Ethnic Cleansing - CONCEPTUAL CONFUSIONS CONCERNING THE ROMANIAN
IDENTITY: NEAM AND POPOR AS EXPRESSIONS OF ETHNO-NATIONALISM (PART 3) - "...the motivation and the goal was common: racially determined
mass murder." (Appeared in RFE/RFL Newsline, 6/5/2005 By Victor
Neumann, professor of history at the West University of Timisoara, Romania.)
[download]